Culturally Responsive and Relevant Pedagogy [CRRP]

I have worked at an alternative school in Scarborough (Toronto’s east end) with students that are 18-20 years of age for the past seven years. These students represent some of the most disengaged and difficult to reach students in Scarborough (if they were not, they would never arrive at my school). In that time I have come to learn: one, the term ‘Inner City Schools’ is an awkward designation given that in Toronto, at least, most of our ‘at-risk’ students are in the inner suburbs, not the inner city; and two, I have found no magic teaching strategy to solve the dilemma of reaching these students (if there was, I suppose, there would be no need for the on-going discussion and my school would not exist). Moreover, ‘Inner City School’ students are, like every other, a diverse group, and an approach that may work for one student may not work for another.

It was a perfect evening. There was a palpable glow on the faces of my students. They were the faces of students who had been given something they didn’t know they had. The faces that say, “I did it…I delivered and I rocked!” The sense that they left the confines of their world and did something special…they accomplished something bigger than themselves. They shone as individuals. They lit up the room. While the Leafs and the Jays played, our students spoke. They spoke of the injustice, of hate, of isolation with the fresh eyes and raw passion that only youth can deliver.

Students from four schools speaking about things that touched them the most, issues that moved them. The "Stand Up, Speak Out" night put on by Facing History Toronto last month illustrated the power of youth and the spoken word. The night was a culmination of weeks of practice and mentoring by inspiring spoken word artists like Testament, Lishai Peel, and Shoolie. When they took to the stage and spoke their pieces, an auditorium of snapping fingers and applause rewarded them. Parents were proud, if not bewildered by the depth of their child’s thoughts and the weight of their words. Facing History’s “dynamic duo” Jasmine Wong and Leora Schaefer coordinated this event, its lead up, and the reception that followed. These two amazing educators created a seamless evening that left the audience inspired.

At the reception, our students met Nate Leipciger, a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp. When I told Ben, one of Waterdown’s student presenters that evening, he decided to introduce himself. Ben went over to pay his respects. When he returned from speaking with Mr. Leipciger, he couldn’t believe what he had told him. “That man survived the Holocaust and he said I inspired him,” Ben said.

When it was time to go, my students seemed to want to linger just a moment more. They were relieved and proud. They boarded the bus glowing and triumphant. The tests they will study for and the notes they take will pass into history. But this night will stay with them always. For what is education if not to give our young people a voice?

Find out more about the "Stand Up, Speak Out" project.

Bring it to your classroom: Five Facing History Resources That Use Poetry to Build Skills.

To all the true teachers who have taught us invaluable lessons and shaped us along the way, a special thanks to you. Happy Teacher Appreciation Week.

IWitness Archive Gives Voice to Holocaust Witnesses: Free Webinars and Student Contest

Facing History Offers IWitness Webinars for Teachers May 9 and May 14 2013
In May 2013, Facing History will offer two free webinars for educators on powerful ways to use the IWitness tool.

Grandmothers of Steel
When my Grandmother spoke, I listened. She survived Nazis, Communists and grandchildren. Yet she always had time for making schnitzel. Grandmothers are special; we know this. The partnership our students have formed with a very special grandmother has been inspiring. Her name is Lisbie Rae and over the last 2 months she has made regular visits to our classroom. This energetic and inspiring woman is a part of the Grandmothers of Steel! This amazing group has partnered with the Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF) and with TD Canada Trust, raising over $200, 000 in the last 4 years to help grandmothers in Africa. Grandmothers helping grandmothers! What makes this program such a great fit for a Facing History Classroom is that Grandmothers of Steel and TD has given our class $250 to spend as Lisbie calls it, “seed money.” Students brain storm fundraising ideas and are given what they need to buy supplies and then the profits are donated back, while returning the $250 for next year. This concept is known as Table Banking. Table banking is used in Rwanda to help grandmothers there raise their orphaned grandchildren. Rwanda is a central unit in teaching Genocide. What better way to connect students to the history than to fundraise for the survivors of Rwanda. Students are able to study the genocide and then help with the healing.

I was recently very fortunate to be invited to join a trial UDHR Glogster project with Facing History (see samples of student work). The purpose of the project was to have students complete a project about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights using Glogster.
In this project, we, the teachers, were given tutorials in the application of Glogster.

An innovative new collaboration taking place in Canada this spring is connecting classrooms and teaching students literacy and performance skills through the study of history and spoken word poetry. “Stand Up, Speak Out,” a four-week program designed by Facing History and Ourselves, is bringing professional spoken word artists into Grade 11 classrooms as part of a unit of study that explores the history of genocide and issues of identity, tolerance, and community.

One of my most powerful childhood memories is seeing "The Ten Commandments" in the original "Cinemascope" at the now demolished Glendale Cinema on Avenue Road. I never forgot the grandeur of the huge screen especially in scene where Moses (Charlton Heston) epically raised his arms with the Rod of God aloft, and the sea crashed down upon the pursuing Egyptians while Pharaoh (Yul Brynner) gasped in awe and said: "The Lord is God." So much for nostalgia. I wonder what Moses would have said watching a synagogues of Germany burn down on Kristallnacht when firefighters stood idle and crowds gathered to gawk? He might well have asked, as do my students, "where was God"?

My last couple of posts have focused on the educational methodology of teaching media savvy students how to examine visual evidence of the Shoah. I have recorded some of our class conversations and you must wonder: what is the atmosphere like in this classroom? Is it terribly negative considering what is being learned? Mustn't it be especially upsetting for students in a Jewish day school to learn the horrific details of the Shoah, the Holocaust, that wiped out an entire Eastern European civilization? My students find this study enlightening and are not depressed but eager to learn more and empowered by what they discover. I would like to share how this can be done. For me, this is an issue that transcends ethnicity, nationality, or religion. How are students affected by learning about genocidal attempts that strike 'close to home"? Let me begin with a story that exemplifies what Facing History is all about.